Chapter 317 : Chapter 317
Chapter 317. The Academy After the Festival
The Empire was thrown into complete chaos.
The appearance of a dragon.
A creature that had existed only in legends had manifested within the Empire.
And not just anywhere, but at the very heart of the Empire’s greatest magical institution—the Academy.
“A dragon appeared?”
“That has to be a joke.”
“It was a festival, so maybe the Academy used illusion magic?”
It sounded absurd.
If it were true, it would not just shake the Empire, but overturn the entire world.
However, as testimonies from those who had attended the festival and escaped began to surface, the rumors spread in an instant.
“I was there myself!”
“I saw the dragon clearly with my own two eyes!”
This year’s Academy Autumn Festival had drawn more visitors than any festival in history, which meant there were countless witnesses.
Naturally, there were also those who refused to believe it.
“Let us assume a dragon really did appear. Then how did anyone escape?”
“How could humans possibly withstand a dragon’s magic power?”
They clung to their doubts until the end.
But the witnesses did not back down.
“The Academy professors and the priests of the Supreme Deity Order helped us!”
“It is a magic academy, is it not? The principal opened a Gate, and we escaped safely!”
Incredible stories became tangled together.
Some claimed the dragon had used Dragon Speech.
Others said that the moment it spread its wings, the surrounding buildings collapsed.
Black scales, an enormous body, terrifying horns and fangs.
Overwhelming magic power.
Demonic energy so intense it made one’s skin crawl, along with demonic minions that had appeared alongside it.
There were even rumors that a demon had borrowed the dragon’s body to descend, or that it was a conspiracy orchestrated by heretics.
Yet even the witnesses who had seen the dragon could not grasp the full truth.
As everyone wondered what was real and what was not—
“Extra, extra!”
The Empire’s most popular publication, Blue Rose, swiftly released a special edition.
The article published by Blue Rose was nothing short of shocking.
The true Ability of the 4th Princess.
The true identity of the dragon.
And the descent of the Archdemon, Leviathan.
People gaped in astonishment.
“An Archdemon descended upon the mortal world?”
“To think the 4th Princess’s Ability was actually transformation into a magical beast…….”
“If this is true, is this not the end of the world?”
Yet the end of the article contained something even more astonishing.
A single figure who had leapt bravely into the dragon’s embrace.
The emergence of a Dragon Slayer.
***
The Imperial Capital of the Cretian Empire.
An office piled high with countless documents.
A man sat sunk into his chair, reading Blue Rose.
‘The vile truth of the Mecure earldom, committed to conceal the 4th Princess’s Ability.’
The article was provocative.
It meticulously exposed the 4th Princess’s true Ability, long kept hidden, as well as the figures eliminated by her maternal family, the Mecure earldom, in their efforts to bury the truth.
The golden eyes that had been scanning the article without pause stopped on a single line.
‘The fallen Beast Princess, laying hands on forbidden power.’
The Beast Princess.
Estina Mecure Cretian, the 4th Princess, was no longer the Shield of the Empire.
She was now known among the imperial citizens by the epithet Beast Princess.
Thanks to Blue Rose, the entire Empire learned that Estina had come into contact with heretics and formed a contract with an Archdemon.
It was nothing less than an incident that trampled the authority of the Imperial Family into the dirt.
Yet despite all this, the Emperor of the Cretian Empire, Holium Berteph Cretian, showed no sign of emotion.
“Are there any discrepancies from the existing reports?”
“None, aside from the entry concerning Kier Iern.”
“Then does that not mean our intelligence is inferior to theirs?”
“How am I supposed to interpret that?”
Holium’s emotionless gaze turned toward the man before him.
Standing there was Ivan Chartrion, Director of the Ability Management Bureau.
Ivan bowed deeply.
“We confirmed that Kier Iern has ties to the Black Order, but we lacked definitive proof that he is an executive, so we could not include it.”
“The Empire’s finest intelligence agency falling behind Blue Rose…… how should I take this?”
“I have no excuse.”
As Ivan lowered his head, a faint glimmer crossed Holium’s eyes, if only for a moment.
A forgotten memory had surfaced.
The night when everything had ended.
The day he cursed his birth as a member of the Imperial Family.
The sight of Ivan prostrated before him, trembling.
He erased the fleeting thoughts and spoke.
“Uncover everything related to this incident. Spare no means.”
“I will keep that firmly in mind.”
Holium’s gaze returned to Blue Rose.
It was a major incident.
Perhaps one that could have destroyed the Empire itself.
By the time Holium had heard of what happened at the Academy, everything was already over.
The 4th Princess who had contracted with a demon was dead.
Along with her, the Mecure earldom and the 4th Imperial Consort had fallen.
Even if this incident had not occurred, it had been the expected outcome.
A faction that concealed such a fatal weakness in the struggle for the throne had little chance of victory.
What he had not anticipated lay elsewhere.
The appearance of a dragon?
The descent of an Archdemon?
Neither of those.
Holium’s eyes moved to the final line of the article.
‘The Imperial Princes joined forces to face the dragon.’
An utterly ridiculous sentence.
Imperial kin killing one another was practically a traditional rite.
No matter how one struggled, being born into the Imperial Family meant being unable to escape that race toward death.
This generation was no different.
They sharpened their blades against one another and constantly sent assassins.
To win the unseen battle.
The survivor would become Emperor.
And yet the Imperial Princes had joined forces to defeat a dragon……?
It was impossible.
His gaze stopped on the name printed in the article.
Radel Silvert Cretian.
The one who had made the impossible possible.
***
“Your Highness. Can you hear me?”
Someone’s sigh.
“The Academy is in an uproar.”
He could sense someone’s presence, yet his eyes would not open.
It felt as though his soul were trapped inside his body.
‘Why can I not move?’
-Because you are dying.
Radel had been thinking absentmindedly when the sudden voice made him turn his head.
A demon was sitting there.
Belphegor, the Demon of Sloth.
-Your body collapsed too quickly. Your bones and muscles melted away, and your internal organs shriveled completely.
Radel had sensed it vaguely as well.
Bones and muscles alone?
The sensation of being connected to his body was faint.
He could only feel the presence of others; no sound reached him.
Only his consciousness existed, as though he were sealed in a pitch-black room.
It was a suffocating sensation he had never experienced before.
Alive, yet feeling dead.
‘What happened to Leviathan?’
-He lost his strength from the shock you dealt him and fell asleep. He will not be waking up anytime soon.
‘So he really does not die.’
Even after destroying the summoned body, the Archdemon had not been completely annihilated.
Radel mulled over the same regret Hayden’s ancestor had once felt, then changed his thinking.
‘No. Thanks to that, I managed to make a frying pan that never wears out.’
-……You are truly a vicious one.
Belphegor looked exasperated.
Radel merely shrugged.
“Your Highness.”
Despite clearly knowing that Radel could not respond, someone kept speaking to him.
“I told you, the Academy is in chaos.”
The air hummed.
Radel asked Belphegor,
‘Someone seems to be here. Can you show me what is going on outside?’
Belphegor silently raised his hand and drew a circle in the air.
Beyond the circle, the world outside his consciousness came into view.
The treatment room of the Marcellent Grand Temple.
Radel lay there unconscious.
Standing by his bedside was none other than Armandy.
He gazed down at Radel with a complicated expression.
“And that is not all. The principal has been summoned to the Imperial Capital, and every bishop of the Supreme Deity Order has been called in as well.”
The dragon was gone.
The Empire had declared a large-scale campaign to purge heretics.
The Academy had been placed under temporary closure.
Though he continued muttering, Armandy clearly did not think Radel could hear him.
“……Why did you do it.”
Armandy finally let the words that had been stuck in his throat spill out.
If he did not say this much, he felt he would not be able to endure it.
The Temple had said they did not know when Radel would awaken.
Neither Heal nor potions had any effect on his body.
Only his Ability remained as hope.
“You said you wanted to live more comfortably than anyone.”
Armandy’s expression twisted.
“Then why did you do it? Why did you rush at the dragon…….”
He could not continue.
The image of Radel leaping toward the dragon was still vivid.
Crossing the sea of flames without fear.
Charging into the dragon’s embrace with nothing but a single knife.
Armandy had forgotten his duty and run.
In that moment, he had not thought about being an agent of the Ability Management Bureau, nor the orders forbidding interference with the Imperial Family—nothing at all.
When Armandy arrived, someone was shouting.
It was the red-haired Imperial Princess, Inette.
‘Why!’
The dragon had fallen.
Yet its magic power lingered, endlessly burning Radel.
The one who pulled him from the flames was Inette.
It was the moment her Ability, Crimson Flame, activated.
‘Why did someone as weak as you charge in! Who do you think you are! Who do you think you are!!’
Tears welled in Inette’s eyes.
Beside her, Gusto silently cast Heal.
Knowing it would not work, he still did not stop until the very end.
Armandy…… could do nothing at all.
“If you were going to do this, why pretend to be so calculating?”
He had known the 8th Prince was reckless.
Even so, he had never imagined he would throw his life away like that.
Usually, he slipped away from danger with ease.
So why, when it truly mattered, did he charge forward?
He was angry.
No—he was angry at himself.
“This is the first time I have regretted becoming an agent of the Ability Management Bureau.”
At his own helplessness.
“It was suffocating. I thought I could not go on living like this anymore.”
At himself, unable to use even a single spell while facing a dragon.
Too afraid that using magic here would expose the identity he had hidden all this time.
But what did any of that matter now?
A memory resurfaced.
The time he had asked Radel why he did not run when facing the assassin’s guild.
Radel had been right.
One could not hide forever.
Outside, the world was in chaos, yet the treatment room was peaceful.
Looking down at the unconscious Radel, Armandy murmured quietly.
“I truly hate to admit it…… but this is all because of you, Your Highness.”
DING.
[The target’s Affinity has increased.]
“I should be going now. I will likely not be here when you wake up.”
Please take care of yourself.
The moment Armandy finished his farewell—
DING.
[The target’s Affinity has surpassed 50.]
[The Status Window has been unlocked!]
Name: Armandy Stein
Age: 24
Position: Imperial Magic Academy First-year, Ability Management Bureau Secret Agent, Heir of the Ivory Tower
Stats: Health 50, Magic Power 120, Strength 30, Agility 30, Intelligence 120
Overall Ability: A+
Skills: Illusion Magic (S), Transmutation Magic (A), Elemental Magic (A), Spirit Arts (A), Alchemy (A), Magical Tools (B)
Traits: Specter of the Laboratory (S)
Affinity: 50
As the Status Window appeared, Armandy’s hidden identity was revealed.
‘Heir of the Ivory Tower?’
The Ivory Tower.
Another name for the Mage Tower.
Yet what shocked Radel more than Armandy’s identity was something else entirely.
‘Where does he think he is going?’
While he had been unconscious, his valuable worker was trying to run away.